Company: Threat Response Solutions (T.R.S.)
Tape Name: Ultimate Groundfighting
Tape Cost: $97.00 plus shipping (For 3 tapes, only sold as set)
Length of
Tape: Tape 1: 80 minutes, Tape 2: 85 minutes,
Number of Moves/Techniques: 42
plus some variations
Return Policy: 90 day money back guarantee
Experiences
in dealing with this company: Excellent
The Instructor: Shahram Moosavi.
Company's
Address: 606 E. Acequia Ave. Visalia, CA 93292
Company's Phone Number: 1-800-899-8153
Web Page: http://www.trsdirect.com
E-mail:
bpierce@lightspeed.net
Primary Grading Criteria:
1.
Production/Tape Quality: 10
2. Instructors demonstrated skill level: 9
3. Comprehension
Score/Immediate Understanding: 9
4. Degree to which this will make someone a better
Martial Artist: 9
5. Score on delivery vs. Hype: 8
6. Degree to which we would
recommend this product: 9
7. Wasted time (The higher the number, the less "fluff"/repetition:
9
8. Playback Score/Watching it over and over again: 9
9. Would I purchase
more of this company's product: 10
10. Overall grade based on cost vs. Value:
9
Grand Total: 91% (Lower end of Good) = 2.75 stars)
Secondary Grading Criteria:
1.
Beginners benefit: Good
2. Intermediate benefit: Poor
3. Advanced benefit:
Poor
4. Time to benefit: Some Immediate, greatest benefit with practice
5.
The need to buy additional tapes to understand this one: A good basic series would
help clarify some points missed in this video.
Written Summary:
I was really
looking forward to watching this series by Shahram Moosavi and had wondered for some
time how good this video series really was. Keeping in mind the T.R.S. video's I
had viewed previously I held high expectations for this series as well. After watching
the first tape of this series I was really disappointed. Not wanting to judge too
quickly and trying to keep an open mind I watched the second video and felt somewhat
better about the series as a whole. My overall impression is that this series was
just okay.
Tape 1 begins with Shahram telling us a bit about his background
which is kickboxing, Tae Kwon Do (Black belt), Jeet Kune Do (full Instructor under
Paul Vunak) and a student of Wellington "Megaton" Diaz. During the video
you can see that Shahram draws from each of these arts (except the Tae Kwon Do).
My guess would be that Shahram is not a Black Belt in any grappling art but after
watching him spar at the end of tape two I would say that he does have a good grappling
background. The techniques presented throughout the 2 video's would be basic material
to anyone with a strong background in the grappling arts.
The first tape
starts off with Shahram explaining the importance of limb destruction and it's application
in relation to the takedown. Shahram uses a limb destruction to distract the person,
by attacking the nerves on the persons hand or arm this allows him to gain entry
and get the takedown. According to Shahram this distraction will cause the person
to think about the pain in his hand or arm which will create the opportunity to take
the fight to the ground. In my opinion I really cannot see this working on an opponent
who is throwing hard and fast punches at you. There are many fighters out there that
the limb destruction would have little or no effect at all. I could see the limb
destruction working in two possible situations, first if the person used his elbows
to destruct his opponents punch. This I think could be possible and MAY work on some
opponents. The second situation that the limb destruction may work is when a person
has grabbed you lets say by the jacket without throwing any punches and you employ
some type of limb destruction to "loosen" them up and then proceed into
a self defense type of technique. Shahram spends quite a bit of time explaining about
the limb destruction and having his students spar and him sparring his students.
Obviously I felt there was a lot of wasted time here as I don't believe it would
be effective. Shahram even states later in the video when he ends up clinched with
an opponent that "how I got her I don't know". I was thinking to myself,
well please tell us how you got there. I would much rather of seen how to set the
person up using punches or kicks than trying to destruct their hand or arm to gain
the clinch or takedown. I also felt that the clinch or takedown in relation to a
person's kick or punch was also an area that should of been covered but wasn't.
Shahram
next shows some basic kicks such as the thigh kick, shuffle ball shot, and knee kick.
These were okay and were nice to see on the video. Shahram also shows the single
leg, double leg, takedown from the rear and the takedown where you wrap your arms
around the person's waist and push with your head on their chest and trip their leg
(same techniques as shown in Sperry Vale Tudo 1 or Allan Goes Fundamentals of BJJ).
These are shown but again Shahram really doesn't show to effectively set the person
up (ie with punches) to get the takedown. Shahram then demonstrates the takedown
but it is on a student that just stands there and doesn't move at all until he is
taken to the ground. Not the most effective way to train. Next shown are the basic
positions such as the guard, cross side, mount, headlock, reverse headlock, top and
bottom position, mounted on the back and half guard. The positions are shown but
really aren't explained well. By this time I am thinking that this series is going
to really score low. But to Shahram's credit he does goes over these positions in
better detail on the second tape. I still would of liked to of seen more details
but at least some of the basics were covered. Some basic escapes to the cross side,
mount and top and bottom position were shown. This section was good with better detail.
The
second tape shows some effective ways to pass the guard. These are basic techniques
but are covered in pretty good detail. Next are some basic submissions from the various
positions. The submissions are good but there is only 1 or 2 submissions shown from
each of the positions. Some
good drills are demonstrated including working on
positioning, drilling armbars from the guard(bottom), how to work the open guard
(good demonstration of this). On the end of the tape Shahram submission wrestles
with 11 different people from different arts. Shahram starts sitting down and generally
goes to the guard where he submits the person. There is no striking involved just
submission. I enjoyed this part of the tape. I would of liked to have seen the subject
of striking covered in better detail. Shahram only touches on this subject leaving
in my opinion another void in this series. In conclusion if the 1st tape would of
been as good as the 2nd this series would of scored in the high good mark but as
it was the series only scored in the lower end of the good grading. If your looking
to purchase a grappling series there are a lot better tapes available than these.
M.O.
